Rev. Dr. Lawrence Tetteh (third from right), an International Evangelist, leading the staff of New Times Corporation in prayers

PRIOR to the one-week observation of Samuel Nuamah’s untimely and tragic death tomorrow, the management and staff at the New Times Corporation yesterday marked his passing away with prayers and the observation in a minute’s silence at the Newsroom of the “Ghanaian Times”.

Yesterday marked exactly one-week of his death in a motor accident at Doryumu Junction, in the Shai Hills, while returning from covering an assignment of the President at Ho.

The solemn and short ceremony saw many of the workers on the verge of tears while the corporation’s siren continued to sound in the background to mark the time the news was received by the Editorial Conference and threw the entire workforce into mourning.

It was quite an emotional scene as the workers mostly clad in mourning attire, looked dejected and downhearted.

When Nuamah woke up early in the morning to join his colleagues for the Presidential assignment on that fateful day, little did he know that he was covering the president for the last time.

The team of reporters and cameraman travelled to Ho, in the Volta Region, to cover the General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, which the President was attending as the Special Guest of Honour.

On their return journey, however, the GMC Savanna Ford vehicle on which they were, burst a tyre on reaching the Shai Hills Resource Reserve at Doryumu, on the Akosombo-Tema highway, The driver applied the brakes, causing the vehicle summersaulted. Nuamah, who was busy writing his story on his laptop, was thrown out into a swampy ditch and the vehicle landed on him, killing him.

Some of his colleagues suffered various degrees of injuries and were rushed to the 37 Military Hospital in Accra.

Immediately after the unfortunate incident, the death of Nuamah went viral on the social media to which the Times office was inundated with telephone calls from relatives friends and concerned citizens, trying to verify the truth.

A book of condolence has been opened in his memory by his employers at the newsroom of the Ghanaian Times.

Addressing the staff, the Managing Director of the NTC, Ms. Carol Annang, said the corporation would have loved to mark the one week rites with the family, and presidency where he worked from, but the day has been pushed to tomorrow to suite all parties affected by Nuamah’s death.

“We would, ordinarily, have loved to involve the presidency and the family of Nuamah in this observation, but it is important we remember Sammy today by being together, praying together in his memory”.

She said though Nuamah’s death was painful, it was important the corporation moved on with hard work without him and prayed that the Lord would grant the corporation the fortitude to carry on in the memory of the deceased.

In a prayer for the late Nuamah, Mrs. Tina Yeboah Aforo, Editor of The Spectator, the weekly newspaper of the corporation, asked that God consoled the family, corporation and the journalism fraternity in the country.

In a Sermon, the Founder and President of the Worldwide Miracle Outreach Dr. Lawrence Tetteh, consoled the management and workers of the New Times Corporation and urged to “see the God factor” in the death.

“In everything we do, let us see the God factor, appreciate it and give thanks to the creator for he knows best,” he said.

He described Nuamah’s death as a tragedy of national proportion, saying, “It can’t even be wished for the worst enemy”.

In a short sermon he titled, “This one too is for good,” Dr. Tetteh said the death of Nuamah could be a good omen for the practice of journalism in the country.

He said: “Imagine the changes Nuamah’s sacrificed could do to safety on buses for journalists when they are making trips. Trust me that when the buses lack the basic safety requirements and journalists demand, that safety should be met; people won’t say journalists are asking for too much.”

The death of Nuamah, Dr. Tetteh said, could be a stepping stone for the corporation to reach higher grounds and urged the workers to learn from the modest life he lived “in this short while that he has been with us”.

Surprise at the show of love for the deceased, both within the corporation and the nation in general Dr. Tetteh said it was important humans lived happily for a common couse.

“Do not wait for what happened to Nuamah to happen before you show love to the person. He (Nuamah) could even be surprised at the love shown him, but did we show this sort of love for the living as well?” he asked.

As someone who personally knew Nuamah before his untimely death, Dr. Tetteh eulogized him as a modest and humble person and charged others to emulate his “short but impacting life”.

He asked that special prayers be said for the family of Nuamah especially the little Nuamah, his wife, parents and the entire family for the Lord to strengthen them.